Academic Earthquake: When AI Passes Peer Review | Ep. 62

4 snips

Jun 13, 2025

Matt and Liz kick things off with a quirky AI challenge to generate the perfect romantic partner, diving into the fun and profound implications of AI. They discuss a PwC report revealing that AI is transforming jobs at an astonishing pace. New Google tools for educators are showcased, enhancing classroom engagement. The discussion heats up with the AI-authored paper accepted for a peer review, raising ethical questions about academic credit. Concluding on a real-world note, they highlight Google's flood prediction technology delivering urgent warnings.

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ANECDOTE

AI-Generated Ideal Partner

Matt fed a photo and prompt to ChatGPT to generate Liz's ideal partner, producing a bookish

INSIGHT

AI Is Evolving Jobs Not Erasing Them

PwC's analysis of one billion job ads shows AI is transforming roles rather than simply eliminating them.
AI-exposed occupations evolve 66% faster and offer rising wage premiums, rewarding AI fluency.

ADVICE

Map And Teach AI-Relevant Skills

Update workforce and education programs quickly by mapping AI-relevant skills and tracking competency gaps.
Teach agent collaboration, prompt writing, and tool agility to prepare students for changing job descriptions.

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In this episode of ChatEDU (Academic Earthquake: When AI Passes Peer Review), Matt and Liz open with a quirky AI challenge: generate Liz’s perfect romantic partner. The results are strangely consistent, but the fun quickly turns to focus. They dive into three big stories shaping the future of work, education, and research. From job evolution to classroom AI to a paper written entirely by an agent, this episode tackles the jagged edge of AI's impact. A bright byte on flood prediction closes things out with real-world urgency.

Story 1: PwC on AI Jobs and the 66 Percent ShiftA new report from PwC analyzes one billion job ads and finds that AI is not wiping out jobs but rapidly transforming them. Roles in AI-exposed fields are evolving 66 percent faster and offering rising wage premiums. Matt and Liz talk about what this means for workforce development, education programs, and why being AI fluent is a serious advantage.

Story 2: Google Tools for Teachers and StudentsNotebookLM adds interactive podcast overviews, link sharing, and new structured outputs. Deep Research can now generate full webpages, quizzes, and infographics. Google’s AI Studio introduces speech generation tools and visual inputs. Liz explains how teachers are already applying these updates to boost student learning and access. Matt imagines homework powered by narrated study guides.

Story 3: Peer Review Gets an AI EarthquakeAn AI system named Zochi just had a solo-authored paper accepted into ACL 2025. No humans wrote it or guided the process. It out-performed most human submissions and passed multiple rounds of peer review. Matt and Liz break down how this happened and why it matters. They also highlight the irony of students being forced to prove they did not use AI while AI itself is publishing research.

Bright Byte: AI Predicts Floods and Saves LivesGoogle’s Flood Hub is now providing 7-day flood warnings to 460 million people across 80 countries. Using satellite imagery and river-level modeling, it delivers free, daily updates in regions where early warnings can save lives.

AnnouncementsThe Summer Micro-Credential is open now skills21.org/ai/micro

Links and References

PwC AI Jobs-

Barometerhttps://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/artificial-intelligence/job-barometer/2025/report.pdf?utm_source=www.theneurondaily.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=ai-skills-56-pay-bump

NotebookLM-

https://notebooklm.google/

Flood Hub-

https://sites.research.google/gr/floodforecasting/

Zochi’s Peer-Reviewed Paper-

https://www.intology.ai/blog/zochi-acl

Voiceitt: Speech Recognition for Non-Standard Speech

https://www.voiceitt.com

SponsorThis episode is supported by the National Center for Next Generation Manufacturing www.nextgenmfg.org